Faculty Page

Patricia Greenfield received her Ph. D. from Harvard University and is currently Distinguished Professor of Psychology at UCLA, where she is a member of the Developmental Psychology group. Her central theoretical and research interest is in the relationship between culture and human development. She is a past recipient of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Award for Behavioral Science Research, the APA Urie Bronfenbrenner Award for Lifetime Contribution to Developmental Psychology in the Service of Science and Society, and the SRCD award for Distinguished Contributions to Cultural and Contextual Factors in Child Development. She has received teaching awards from UCLA and the American Psychological Association. Her books include Mind and Media: The Effects of Television, Video Games, and Computers (Harvard, 1984), which has been translated into nine languages and was recently reissued as a Classic Edition by Psychology Press. In the 90s she coedited (with R.R. Cocking) Interacting with Video (Elsevier, 1996) and Cross-Cultural Roots of Minority Child Development (Erlbaum, 1994, Psychology Press, 2014). With a focus on social change and human development, she has studied three generations of child development and socialization in a Maya community in Chiapas, Mexico between 1969 and 2012. She also directs Children's Digital Media Center @ Los Angeles, which researches the developmental implications of Facebook, YouTube, and other Internet issues. A research project in Los Angeles investigated how cultural values influence relationships on multiethnic high school sports teams. She is also engaged in a project in cross-cultural education, focusing on Latino immigrants, called "Bridging Cultures." She was founding Director of the FPR-UCLA Center for Culture, Brain, and Development. Her undergraduate courses include Psych 133G, Culture and Human Development; her graduate teaching includes advanced seminars in social change and human developments, human development in Latino contexts, and media and human development.